Z Nation: "Puppies and Kittens"Review

The first thing everyone is going to want to do with SyFy and The Asylum’s new zombie thriller, Z Nation -- debuting Friday -- is compare it to AMC’s The Walking Dead. There just isn’t that many television shows tackling the topic of a zombie apocalypse and that makes it the natural thing to do. For several weeks this fall, the two shows will coexists every week. They may not be on the same night, but if you’re like me, you only have a finite amount of time for television every week. I think Z Nation has to tackle the question “Why do I want a second zombie show on my weekly schedule?” to see any substantial success. So let’s shoot the zombie in the head first and tackle the comparisons.

First and foremost, Z Nation isn’t afraid to use the word zombie. That may seem like a small victory to some but it does an excellent job of representing the attitude presented in the show. Z Nation does a decent job in its premiere episode, “Puppies and Kittens”, of embracing what makes a zombie apocalypse story fun. There’s an attempt here to take the serious tone of something like The Walking Dead and merge it with the campiness of something like Zombieland or the game Dead Rising. “Puppies and Kittens” definitely leans towards the former for about two thirds of the episode, before changing gears and becoming something different and exciting that kept me interested in the end.

If Z Nation can bottle and reproduce that campiness present in the final few scenes of the premiere -- and I have faith in the fact that The Asylum is more than capable of doing that -- they could potentially have some success with this series. There are definitely hints of The Asylum -- the company behind "mockbusters" like Transmorphers and The Amityville Haunting and, of course, the likes of Sharknado -- wanting to do something different and fun throughout the episode as well. One scene features a couple of traveling weapon salesmen who pawn off a retrofitted baseball bat with spikes. That personality could keep Z Nation on a lot of people’s radars.

Visually, and this is a bit of a problem, I thought Z Nation looked a little too much like The Walking Dead. Specifically, the color grading in “Puppies and Kittens” was notably reminiscent of your average Walking Dead episode. The visual style used is something you will see frequently in a post-apocalyptic setting but I think in this case it might be best to steer clear of it. It’s less of a knock against the episode and more of a concern that people are going to have a hard time separating the two. The fact that they look so similar is one of the reasons my notes kept straying towards comparisons with The Walking Dead. Then again, for a production company known for their “Mockbusters” that may be exactly what they want.

The narrative presented in the series premiere is intriguing enough to start. Soldier Mark Hammond (Harold Perrineau) is tasked with transporting Murphy (Keith Allan) across the country to California. The setup is that Murphy is apparently immune to the virus that causes zombification in humans. Yes, that’s the plot to a popular video game released last year but I’ve already made too many comparisons in this review.

Harold Perrineau, Tom Everett Scott and Kellita Smith in Z Nation.

Naturally, their travels bring them into contact with other survivors who through the course of the episode round out the cast we will probably be seeing for the rest of the season. Some of the standout characters from the premiere are Charles Garnett (Tom Everett Scott) and Roberta Warren (Kellita Smith), who both show signs of great chemistry with some fun banter when they encounter an awkward and unusual situation late into the episode. DJ Qualls (Road Trip, Supernatural) has a lot of potential in his role as a military systems operator who is trying to help guide Hammond’s group to their destination. There’s a lot of potential here if the producers can realize it.

One of my biggest gripes with “Puppies and Kittens” is that it might be a little too tame for something from The Aslyum. It starts to hit all the right campiness buttons by the end of the episode but it really does play it safe out of the gate. I hope once introductions are no longer necessary this series will embrace the crazy fun you can have with a zombie story.

The Verdict

Yes, if you already watch The Walking Dead, Z Nation is worth checking out. It may visually match the style of the seasoned zombie series but it’s personality skews towards a little more camp, which is admittedly somewhat refreshing. It’s hard to say right now if the two shows can coexist but if The Asylum can work to their strengths this show could be a fun zombie adventure.

Z Nation premieres Friday, September 12th at 10pm ET/PT on Syfy.

Chris Carabott is a writer at IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @ccarabott.